Mcguire or V.C summer?

[gamecockdeez]

I have recieved an offer to work as an AO at Mcguire (North of Charlotte). I also recieved an offer from V.C Summer (North of Columbia, SC) today.  V.C summer offered a couple dollars more an hour.  I was wondering if anybody knows anything about the plants good or bad.  Your responses will be greatly appreciated.  Just trying to make a decision.  Thanks.

[Fermi2]

Both well running plants of about the same vintage and type. From an AUO Perspective I believe I'd like Summer. Bigger Containment.

From a financial standpoint. McQuire 2 Units = More Outages = More Money but it gets old after awhile.

Mike

[gamecockdeez]

Thanks Broadzilla.  I didn't think about the two reactors = more frequent outages. I don't know why I didn't think about that.  I do believe SCANA is starting the process to build two new ap1000 reactors at the VC summer site planned to be finished in 2016 and 2019.  I think the fact that they are expanding is a plus as well.

[Mike McFarlin]

Take VC Summer. You can get all the OT you want with shared resources. Also, they have 2 new units planned for the site.

[gamecockdeez]

Thanks for the advice Mike.  Forgive me for my ignorance, but what is shared resources?  Is that when another plant takes operators/bodies to come work outages for them temporarily?  Thanks in advance.

[Mike McFarlin]

Yes, and they share the new ideas and techniques so everyone benefits.

[gamecockdeez]

Thanks again.  You guys have been a great help. Yeah I'm going to take the Summer offer.  I have been hearing good things about the work atmosphere up there, and I like the area too.

[Mike McFarlin]

Judging from your username, you will do well in the Columbia area!

[Fermi2]

Uh don't even COUNT on reactors that aren't even built yet! Stupid is as stupid does.

Mike

[Fermi2]

It's the same as people who figure in OT and Bonuses as base income. It's not the correct way to be looking at things. OT and Bonuses can always go away. You can count on OT from outages as that will always be there but remember the days when outages were 100 days? Now about 70% of ones outage income vanished and that happened relatively quickly. As fast as the utilities are staffing up online OT is gonna go away soon.
When I see a new Unit finally start up I'll buy into considering them as a potential income source.
Heck since some are counting Summer 2 and 3 lets just hire in at say Victoria County, I hear a couple fine reactors are being considered for there.!

Mike

[RRhoads]

VC is prob a better way to go..i havent worked Mc Guire...VC was doing the shared resource thing 10-12 years ago..It was a great place to work then ..people were great & Columbia was great too!
I work at a Single Unit BWR....I chose that because is WAS only 1 unit & we only do outages every other year. Working 2 outages a year or an outage every year , to me, would be a drag.
You CAN (despite what the "Broad" sez) count one 1 outage every other year..The $$ is still good.
I talked w/ a friend of mine who works there..its been a couple of years ago, be he was saying then that they were breaking ground for the "new reactors"...
Despite what the "broad" sez!

[Fermi2]

2 Years, No broken ground, No License.
I liked the single unit thing too. Outages get physically degrading.
But for a young guy, just starting out, 3 Outages in a 2 year cycle can be awesome!

Mike

[TN-Man]

I have worked as a house HP for both Duke and SCE&G and both are great companies, either would be a good choice. But some day after you are an SRO and you have kids that are involved in everything(as all kids do these days), you are going to want to get off shift work and take a straight day/week day job. With a company like Duke you have multiple sites to look at. I have read the talk about future nukes, but if SCE&G builds another nuke it will be on the same site. Summer is self contained; there is not a corporate nuclear group. With Duke there are multiple sites and a corporate office that will have jobs for those who have achieved the near god-like level of SRO. Believe me, and every one will tell you, with a RO and especially a SRO you are gold in a company. Good luck.

[Fermi2]

Just a question, how can a non SRO speak for the opportunities for SROs. Its been my experience in both types of utilities it's difficult to get released anywhere as an SRO.
Usually the opportunity lies with going to another utility post SRO.

Mike

[TN-Man]

I was basing it on being at Summer for many years and seeing how it works there. When I left 4 years ago, all managers, which is the position above first line supervisor, had to have a SROC and they took their turns standing shift watch to maintain their certifications. So all department heads were SROs or SROCs. I even knew one coal plant manager that had been a SRO, but that was another story. I may have made the same mistake you made in assuming that all utilities are run the same and as you point out I was wrong. It has been many years since I was at Duke and things are probably very different. Another difference between SCE&G and TVA is that all operators at Summer are expected to be SRO some day. At TVA they can have career AOs. That is from my 1 1/2 years experience at Watts Bar, as a HP again. I was only trying to point out some things that gamecockdeez may not have thought about. I have no idea what you meant by "both types of utilities".

[gamecockdeez]

Thanks for the advice TN-MAN.  I do hope one day to have a chance to get licensed.  I think Summer would be good because, more than likely, I will get that chance. That is my goal, but I can see how shift work could get old, as I get older.  I guess i'll just have to see how it is, when I get there.  Thanks again.

[Fermi2]

I was basing it on being at Summer for many years and seeing how it works there. When I left 4 years ago, all managers, which is the position above first line supervisor, had to have a SROC and they took their turns standing shift watch to maintain their certifications. So all department heads were SROs or SROCs. I even knew one coal plant manager that had been a SRO, but that was another story. I may have made the same mistake you made in assuming that all utilities are run the same and as you point out I was wrong. It has been many years since I was at Duke and things are probably very different. Another difference between SCE&G and TVA is that all operators at Summer are expected to be SRO some day. At TVA they can have career AOs. That is from my 1 1/2 years experience at Watts Bar, as a HP again. I was only trying to point out some things that gamecockdeez may not have thought about. I have no idea what you meant by "both types of utilities".

Great post!!

Thanks

Mike

[RRhoads]

This from my company news;
VC Summer Plant to Add Two More Plants
The Public Service Commission of South Carolina (PSC)
has unanimously approved South Carolina Electric & Gas
Company’s (SCE&G) plans to build two new Westinghouse
AP1000s at its existing VC Summer site in the state. PSC
approval must be secured before any construction can start.
The South Carolina PSC ruling was made in the wake of
a three-week public hearing held in December 2008, and
determines that the proposal to build the plant is “prudent,”
as well as allowing the company to recover some of the
financing costs while the plant is under construction rather
than having to wait until it is in operation.
Indeed, according to the PSC directive, the new units will be
sorely needed. “The company’s [SCE&G’s] established reserve
margin target is 12% to 18% of forecasted peak demand,
and … forecast shows that the company’s reserve margin
will decline to 2% by 2016 and -3.9% by 2019, even in the
face of the current economic downturn,” it said.
SCE&G president and COO Kevin Marsh greeted the PSC
ruling as a key milestone for the project, and noted that
being able to pay financing costs while the plant is under
construction should lower the overall cost of building the
new units by about $1 billion, saving customers an estimated
$4 billion in electricity rates over the plant’s lifetime.
The new units will be jointly owned by Scana subsidiary
SCE&G and Santee Cooper, and operated by SCE&G, and
will join the existing 966 MWe unit at the site. Construction
will not be able to begin until the US Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) grants a combined construction and
operating licence (COL), which SCE&G estimates could be
issued in 2011. The company plans to bring the first of the
new units online in 2016, with the second in 2019.

[NukeLDO]

Good news for a change.  Now we have to wait and see how the COL process plays out.

[Ops Nub]

As a qualifying AO at VC Summer I will tell you that there are quite a few 'career' AO's.  Getting through RO class is getting tougher and tougher to get through as well, which has a lot of AO's nervous about taking the plunge. When you sign your paperwork to get hired they make you sign a memo that says that you will pursue an RO license when asked, but it hasn't been enforced 'yet'.

[RP Instructor]

If you could take VC Summer's Containment Building, and connect it to McGuire's Auxiliary and Turbine Buildings, you'd have it made.

I found the layout of McGuire's Auxiliary and Turbine Buildings easier to navigate; but VC Summer's Containment Building is ideal; open, stairwells, elevator; far easier to navigate than McGuire's Lower Containment, Lower Containment Pipechase, and Annulus.

As for Operations at McGuire , I spent twelve years working shift alongside Operations, and they're a great group of folks.

As for VC Summer and the path to an RO/SRO License, I suspect it has gotten tougher after the license failures back in 2007. However, if it's what you want, you'll do what it takes to succeed.
I see nothing wrong with being a career AO if that's all you want. Some folks are content with their career as it is.

[zwink]

I got called in for testing / interview next week for VC Summer (POSS test).  I dont foresee a problem with the test, but I am worried about the effects of shift work.  The job pays enough to where my wife should be able to stay at home w/ kids, but I'm worried that I may never get to see them.  I'm one of those people that have to get 8 hours of sleep a day or I am screwed.  It doesn't matter when it is, cause I can always fall asleep, but 6 just doesn't cut it.  At USNA, I got maybe 6 every day and I was always nodding off. 

ugh.

[Cathy]

Shift work isn't too bad. On my shift I always have at least 3 days a week off and my 5th week is 7 off. I spend nearly as many days at home as I do at work. Obviously the days off rotate but I am home a lot.

[HydroDave63]

I got called in for testing / interview next week for VC Summer (POSS test).  I dont foresee a problem with the test, but I am worried about the effects of shift work.  The job pays enough to where my wife should be able to stay at home w/ kids, but I'm worried that I may never get to see them.  I'm one of those people that have to get 8 hours of sleep a day or I am screwed.  It doesn't matter when it is, cause I can always fall asleep, but 6 just doesn't cut it.  At USNA, I got maybe 6 every day and I was always nodding off. 

ugh.

check your PM box.

[RP Instructor]

ZwinK:

Again, check your PM Inbox

[ThrifTe]

I was at VC Summer recently, and can verify they are already clearing ground and getting ready to begin construction on the two new reactors in anticipation of approval.  I think they are hiring a ton of AOs as well, not only to train for the new reactors but to cover those retiring from the 1982ish startup of the one they have now.  They took the AO postings offline, but they are still seeking Nuclear Training Instructors (SCANA.com).